Carlsbad City Council will consider approving a slight change to an existing ordinance that will require a special permit for personal sales of vehicles. The ordinance amendment will go up to the council for a vote Feb. 25.

The change, if approved, would add a "casual sale of vehicles" to the city's ordinance code.

City Administrator Steve McCutcheon said the proposed amendment was reviewed by the city's ordinance committee and code enforcement staff. According to McCutcheon, the city has seen a problem with people leaving vehicles on the side of the roads or people selling excessive amounts of cars as personal residents.

"We do have a problem with people selling cars in the highway's right-of-way or people turning homes into car dealerships," City Steve McCutcheon said.

If approved, the amendment will require a person to obtain a certain business license from the city if they want to sale a vehicle to strangers. The change will not require people who sale a vehicle person to person or established car dealership business, according to the agenda report. The fee for such a license could be $35.

Councilman J.R. Doporto acknowledges the city's problem with abandoned vehicles but said he doesn't mind outside sales of vehicles as long as they are sold at a designated spot.

Advertisement

"I think we need a designate area to do it and not have cars on all the streets in the city," he said. "If someone offers a parking lot for rent that people can sell their cars, that will be okay."